Misunderstanding
by antiwicked
Summary: He had seen far too much of it in the world. After all, misunderstanding is what killed Elphaba Thropp. AU; Gelphie & Gliyero
1. Chapter 1

"I have to find it. Oz, help me; I have to find it." The man muttered furiously under his breath as he scoured the graveyard, hastily reading the chiseled names on the weathered stones. His breathing became heavy and labored as he drew his torn jacket about him.

A victorious, and rather loud, giggle exploded from his mouth as he threw himself down at the tombstone in front of him. He groveled at the mere sight of her name and felt a tear slide its way down his dirty cheek, making a clean path through the grime on his face.

_Elphaba Thropp_

_Misunderstood and greatly missed_

Misunderstanding was something that he had seen far too many times. Misunderstanding had torn two relationships. Misunderstanding was the reason that Elphaba Thropp was dead. He wiped the tear away rapidly; there was no point in releasing those memories again. All he was here for was to find the wand; His beloved Glinda's wand. An insane laugh resonated from his mouth as he fiercely dug through the soil, the dark matter wading in his fingernails and flying all over his tatty clothes.

The digging took him quite some time but he knew that he would not be disturbed. The graveyard was abandoned and there were frightful rumors that the Witch's ghost still haunted the cemetery, waiting to discover her killer. As his jagged nails reached the laminated cherry wood of her coffin, he eagerly threw off the top, not believing his eyes at the sight.

There was no body, and there was definitely no wand. He painstakingly flipped over the lid, observing the inside for nail marks and signs of struggle. There were none. Perhaps someone had come before him and stolen Elphaba's body and sold the wand to some pawn shop in the dark alleys of the Emerald City.

"Damn it!" He yelled to no one in particular. There was no one around to hear him, anyway. He had come just to retrieve an item that would most possibly secure his fortune. Normally, such an item wouldn't mean so much to him, but after all that they had gone through together, that wand _deserved _to be his.

He closed the coffin and, in a rage, angrily and sloppily threw the dirt back into the empty grave. After his unexplained fit, he stood up straight and briskly walked back to the main road. Well, it used to be a main road. It was nothing but gravel of varying sizes now. He took a sharp turn and came face to face with the ruins of the Upland household. His heart ached as he knelt by the gate, his hands wrapping themselves around the rusted iron bars. It wasn't possible. This shouldn't have happened. Elphaba should not have been murdered; Glinda should not have taken her own life. The mere statement in his mind brought him back to the day where Glinda had told him about her love for Elphaba.

"I will _die _without her, Fiyero. I know that you don't believe me but I would!"

He had no idea that what she said had been true. He remembered seeing Glinda sprawled out on the floor, blood pooling around her. There was a ghost of a smile on her face, as if she knew that she would be reunited with her love, her soul mate.

Before he could do anything to stop it, tears made their way down his face as he finally released all of the pain that he had kept inside of him for so long. He fell forward, barely feeling the scrape of rough, cold cement that collided with his cheek. He could feel that the rough stone had made a cut in his face, but he didn't care. He _couldn't _care.

The distraught man laid there with his face in the concrete, crying and screaming for mercy. But there was no mercy to be given, not from his two friends anyway. They were both dead and gone and there was nothing to be misunderstood in that fact.


	2. Chapter 2

"Galinda, darling, you are eighteen years old. A suitor is going to come knocking sooner or later," Larena Upland glanced at her daughter, surveying the twitch of annoyance in the girl's face.

"They already have, Mother, and I haven't taken a fancy to any of those broads that you have brought to my attention," Galinda seemed to have a sassy retort to everything this morning and Larena could do nothing but sigh at the stubborn persistence of her daughter.

"Galinda," Larena's tone had changed; she really meant this. "You have to pick a husband sometime soon. God forbid that you become one of those crabby, unmarried women who grow up with hundreds of cats."

Galinda rolled her eyes rudely. "I can't afford hundreds of cats, mother. If it makes you happy, I'll marry the next man who has the audacity to walk into our home."

"Lady Upland, Master Tigelaar has arrived," A servant bowed slightly and politely then shuffled out the door.

Galinda whipped around with a fierce glare at her mother. "You planned this, didn't you?" She growled, crossing her arms over her chest with an angry huff. There was no answer from the older woman as she stood to greet their guest.

"Come, my sweet, your husband is waiting." Galinda had never wanted to run away so bad in her entire young life.

Master Fiyero, bless his soul, wasn't too bad looking and he really was polite. He had even brought her a rose (which she knew he had plucked from the gardens, but it's the thought that counts).

"You really are beautiful, you know," He whispered to her, his quite adorable dimples showing as he smiled at her.

"I know," Galinda answered, annoyed. Fiyero was certainly sweet, but she was not looking for marriage right now.

"You don't want to marry me, that I know," Galinda perked up; that wasn't something that she expected to hear. "I don't want to marry you either." He realized his mistake there. "Well, I do, but I don't want to be forced into anything and I'm sure you don't either."

Galinda's penciled eyebrows rose in amusement. "For your information, Master Fiyero, I made a bet with my mother that I would marry the next man who came through my door. It seems to be your lucky day," She smirked at him and he gave her a half-smile back.

"It definitely is my lucky day," He breathed, moving closer and brushing a soft golden curl behind her pale ear.

"Yes, well, absolutely not, Master Fiyero!" Galinda pulled away sharply as the Vinkun prince leaned in to taste her lips. "You are not that far yet. We've only just met!"

"We're going to be wed, Miss Galinda. You'll have to deal with more than just a simple kiss in the coming months," Fiyero bowed to her and turned away without walking her to the door. How rude!

When Galinda calmed down from being left alone on the balcony, she trotted back inside, Fiyero's words sending eerie shivers down her spine. She certainly didn't enjoy the way that he was treating her, but a deal was a deal, and that was that.

The following week was a busy one. Fiyero's parents had forced him to propose and the adults happily drank wine and celebrated with Fiyero while Galinda stood to the side with an impromptu fake smile on her powdered face. To make the week worse, Galinda was told that the Thropp family was going to be visiting to drop of an engagement present and to converse over "private matters" with her father.

Galinda hated the Thropps. Frexspar was a stuck-up bigot who flirted with all of the house's maids (Heaven knows where his wife was!) and he had no respect for Galinda or any of her family. Nessarose was a religious freak that followed her father around everywhere and never stopped pestering Galinda with the "basic of religion" and the "will of the Unnamed God".

Galinda found herself sighing as she walked around the corridor, her bright pink heels echoing throughout the airy space. The Thropp carriage had just arrived from Munchkinland and the occupants were entering the castle now. Galinda had made sure to distance herself as far away from that family of freaks as possible.

They were all the way on the other side of the castle, but that did not explain what Galinda was seeing. She dropped dead in her tracks as she saw a figure at the end of the hallway. As she watched, she was very surprised to see a young girl trudge down the hall. She was carrying – well, trying to anyway – three luggage bags and it was clearly putting her in pain.

Galinda, intrigued and a little frightened at having never seen this girl before, took a few steps closer and cursed her noise-making shoes. The poor woman didn't seem to hear her as she moved towards her and Galinda was in such close proximity with the girl that she could almost touch her.

"Um, excuse me?" Galinda put on her most formal tone. "Might I inquire as to who you are and why you're in my castle?"

The girl jumped a bit, absolutely startled. She painstakingly turned around and Galinda gasped audibly, whisking her hands to her mouth in shock. The girl was _green_! She was genuinely grass green!

The woman spoke in response to Galinda's question and also her silence.

"I – I'm Elphaba Thropp and I didn't mean to interrupt you."


End file.
